Controversial 8-story Jersey City clifftop project approved, despite fierce opposition from neighbors

An eight-story, 14-unit development on Ogden Avenue in the Jersey City Heights neighborhood was unanimously approved by the city’s planning board Tuesday night despite meeting despite strong opposition from neighbors.

The project by Hoboken-based Pintak Development is set to be constructed on a parking lot on the Palisades cliffs. But the project has been contentious due to safety concerns over its location on the cliffs and for being out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.

Heights Councilman Yousef Saleh led the charge during public comment, saying that’s he was worried about the structural integrity of the cliff and that he doesn’t “want homes to collapse there.”

“Just because you can build something doesn’t mean that you should build something,” Saleh said. “Anything that is built there would be better than what is currently a surface lot, right? But we need to be responsible with our development.”

Almost two dozen residents spoke against the project, including tenants next door at Pohlmann’s Hall, a three-story structure, who say the building would block sunlight from their units.

“If it was to scale with the neighborhood, I could probably, be swayed into agreeing with something like that,” said Elizabeth Dempsey, a Pohlmann’s Hall resident. “But as it stands, I just don’t see how it’ll fit in. Yes, I do have blue sky and some birds to listen to now, but I think all of that will be gone.”

Along with comments about protecting the Palisades cliffs, residents are also concerned about increased traffic and whether the development has a plan to manage stormwater.

The planning board commissioners said when voting that while they understand the public concerns, they don’t have the jurisdiction to decide a project based on how a building looks within a community. Ultimately they must vote on whether it follows the city’s master plan and zoning laws.

“Everybody hates to have a greedy developer move in next door,” said board Chairman Christopher Langston. “They’re in business, development is a business. Before it gets to us as of right, look at the zoning, get the zoning changed if you oppose.”

Thomas Pintak, owner of Pintak Development, said he’s “extremely pleased” that the project was approved by the planning board after the opposition to it delayed the process more than he anticipated.

“Because they understood that the building’s an as-of-rights building in the zone, approved for eight stories, they decided to look at other ways that they could get this building not approved,” Pintak said of the residents who fought the project. “That it’s going to weaken the cliff and has a chance of falling down, which my experts proved that it does not.”

He said he’s aiming to begin construction in the next six months and the project could be completed in approximately 18 months.

Kern Weissman, chair of the Riverview Neighborhood Association’s development oversight committee, called the approval “a travesty” and that the community “is now shouldering the expense and the burden of this process, rather than just being handled properly by the Jersey City Planning Department.”

The association has not decided whether to pursue legal action over the approval, Weissman added.

152 Ogden Ave. in Jersey City